Alexander Vertinsky is a wonderful pop singer, poet and artist of the Silver Age. He was especially remembered by his contemporaries and descendants as a performer of lyric songs in the makeup of a melancholic Pierrot. For a long time, Vertinsky lived in exile, but eventually returned to the USSR.
Childhood and youth of Vertinsky in Kiev
Alexander Vertinsky was born in Kiev in 1889. He was the illegitimate son of Evgenia Skarlatskaya and a well-known lawyer in the city, Nikolai Vertinsky. Just three years later, Sasha's mother died. And when the boy was about five years old, his father also died.
Sasha was brought up by his aunt, his mother's sister - Maria Stepanovna. This woman had a very harsh disposition, she severely punished her nephew even for insignificant offenses.
Sasha studied at the Kiev Alexander Gymnasium, but soon he was expelled for bad behavior - he began to steal things and money. And later the young man was driven out of the house by his aunt for the same reason. Left without the support of his family, Sasha was forced to take on any job - he worked as a loader, a salesman, an accountant, a typographic proofreader … At some point, Vertinsky was lucky - he got the opportunity to try his hand at the journalistic field and, thanks to his articles and notes, gained some fame …
Vertinsky before the revolution
In 1913, Vertinsky left Kiev and moved to a larger city - Moscow. Here Alexander Nikolaevich wanted to achieve recognition as a writer, but in the end he followed the acting path. At first he performed in very modest theaters. But then he was nevertheless invited to the rather serious Theater of Miniatures of Maria Artsibusheva located on Tverskaya Street. The public liked the debut performance of Vertinsky on the stage of this theater. In addition, the novice actor was noticed and mentioned in his material by the critic of the print edition "Russian Word".
And in 1913, Vertinsky starred in black and white films. He played a tiny role in the film based on Ivan Goncharov's "Break".
The First World War interrupted Vertinsky's acting career. And Alexander Nikolaevich at the end of 1914 voluntarily became a soldier and went to the front. In the army, he served as an orderly. But already in January 1915, the actor was wounded and he was demobilized.
Vertinsky's debut as a pop artist took place in 1915, all in the same Theater of Miniatures. Alexander presented to the audience his program called "Pierrot's Songs". The thoughtful image of Pierrot made Vertinsky really popular and popular. In this image, he brilliantly performed lyric songs (in particular, songs to verses by Vera Inber, Igor Severyanin, Marina Tsvetaeva). His style of performance was unusual and recognizable, the characteristic elements of this style were grazing and smooth recitative.
Period of emigration
In 1917, as you know, two revolutions took place in Russia and the Civil War began. Alexander Vertinsky's relationship with the new communist government did not work out. And in 1920 on a ship he sailed from the Crimea to Constantinople. Then he lived and performed in Bessarabia, Poland, Germany, France … By the way, in Poland in 1923, Vertinsky married Raisa Pototskaya, a girl from a very wealthy family. By 1930, this marriage had become a pure formality, but Vertinsky officially divorced only in 1941.
It should be noted that Vertinsky managed to live not only in Europe - in 1934 he moved to the United States. And then fate threw him into China and the puppet state of Manchukuo (it was located in the territories of the PRC occupied by the Japanese). Once in Chinese Shanghai, Alexander Nikolaevich met with the Georgian beauty Lydia Tsirgvava. She was almost thirty-five years younger than Vertinsky, but this difference did not become an obstacle for their love. In 1942, Vertinsky proposed to Lydia and they became husband and wife.
In July 1943, the couple had a daughter, Marianna, and a year later she had a sister, Nastya. Both girls, in a sense, continued their father's work - when they grew up, they became professional actresses.
Vertinsky in the USSR
Since the second half of the thirties, Vertinsky several times sent letters to the embassies of the Soviet Union - he asked to be allowed to return. But only in 1943 another similar request was granted. Once in the USSR, Alexander Vertinsky continued to work hard - in order to provide for his family normally, he traveled around the country with his concert program. There was no end to his fans in the Union either.
Alexander Nikolaevich gave his last concert on May 21, 1957. That evening, the actor suddenly felt worse. A few hours later, the life of the actor Vertinsky was cut short. As established by doctors, the cause of death was heart failure.
